Christian Mosimann Profile picture
Jun 19, 2020 6 tweets 2 min read Read on X
Fun fact:
most PIs themselves never had (or sought) any actual formal training for any of this. Similar for teaching or mentoring.

Frequent attitude:
"winging it" is normal/badge of honor/funny.

Don't want to say it shows. But it totally does.
Few quick additions:

"Budgeting" or lab budgets are often not that complex. Salaries are pre-defined. Reagents over time sum up to an average consumption and can be estimated. And often you get help.

I always dreaded the book keeping but it's useful and gives peace of mind.
"People management" is a deep rabbit hole that many see as "learning by doing". Some is, indeed.

But workplace psychology, supervision, progress tracking et al. is done in industry & military since decades/centuries. This has language and framework. Useful to seek out.
"Project management" is similar. The problem is that lots of science is inherently unpredictable so again a "learning by doing" component comes in.

But also here, book keeping, progress tracking, etc. are standards in other industries that provide good input.
So the info can be found. But teaching it is rarely part of any curriculum in academic training.

It doesn't have to be that way.
If you are in your PhD or postdoc and curious about these points, you have lots of online resources at your disposal to start.

But also bring these points up with your grad school, your mentors, your PIs.

Chances are they will find it liberating to actually talk about it all!

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Christian Mosimann

Christian Mosimann Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @chrmosimann

Jan 13, 2022
Remarks on faculty job searches (as 'tis the season):
Chances are, as a faculty candidate you apply to several job ads.

Dozens. More.

You wait. You hope.

(quick thread)
1/n
#PILife #PDLife #AcademicJobs
Some places will respond with a rejection pretty quickly. Form letter.

Sometimes hilariously addressed to Dear [Applicant Name3].

Are you just a number? At this stage, likely.

Others never get back to you. Or years (!) later.

2/n
This is normal and as in any higher-level job with lots of competition.

The waiting, the rejections, and the no-responses are depressing. Discouraging. At times unhealthy.

"Does nobody care about my ideas? My science? Me?"

3/n
Read 16 tweets
Sep 22, 2020
As undergrad, I struggled immensely with this: reading and omg understanding papers.

Especially as non-native English speaker.

I did develop a system that helped me back then.

Bear with me it is pretty...mundane. 1/n

#reading #PhDLife #PDlife #undergradlife #papers #science
I printed each paper. And while reading I used a yellow, a green, and a pink highlighter.

When reading, I labeled every first mention of an abbreviation in green.

This helped me to find their meaning quickly again when deep into the text.

2/n
In pink, I labeled key questions and take-home messages.

If done correctly, you can look at pink sentences alone and recap the whole paper.

Peo-rip: first and last sentences of paragraphs often are pink sentences.

Pro-tip 2: write papers that have pink sentences.

3/n
Read 18 tweets
Aug 19, 2020
This is every molecular biologist's nightmare - vector and PCR product contamination across samples.

We can sequence so deep now that all kinds of details come to light!
I bet lots of us "reproduced" aspects of this in our own labs - i.e. a genotyping you do often starts to show up in every PCR you do, etc.

DNA always finds a way.

#mobio #devbio #benchwork
To add two anecdotes.

A good friend during my PhD did mass spec on Drosophila samples, and couldn't figure out what the predominant recovered peptides were. They overpowered everything else.

Human Keratin.

He made sure to wear gloves after this. 1/2
Read 4 tweets
Jul 7, 2020
Honored & grateful to receive the @ZDMSociety award in these trying times.

The award also recognizes our amazing international trainees using #zebrafish #devbio as cardiovascular disease model, first @UZH_en & now @CUAnschutz - and our fantastic collaborators!

Thx all🍾🐟!
Special shout-out to @FelkerAnastasia @karin_prummel @aburger2009, our collaborators @ClaudioCantu81 @d_zimmerli @KevinMMA13 @DanielaPanakova @PanakovaLab @George_Hausmann and all who were part of our BCL9 work cited in the award:
genesdev.cshlp.org/content/32/21-… Image
...and thx to all our current lab members @CUAnschutz, many on visas, not all on Twitter - onwards always:
@hannah_moran @AKocere @aburger2009 Image
Read 4 tweets
Jun 19, 2020
Happy our review on the lateral plate mesoderm is out @Dev_journal, with @karin_prummel & @Susan81643382 (open access).

Our first attempt at reviewing the fascinating, wacky, complex biology as Development at a Glance with poster!
#devbio #evodevo
dev.biologists.org/content/147/12… Image
The LPM forms several central cell fates and organ systems, including the heart, endothelium, blood, limb connective tissue, and much more.

This seemingly weird combo of downstream fates seems unrelated the adult body - but they all share a common LPM origin!
Our review now attempts to summarize how LPM's development (and possible evolution) ties these diverse downstream fates together.

We also discuss that not all "mesoderm" is equal:
the LPM forms as dedicated mesendoderm lineage early on, both in development and evolution.🧬🧬🧬
Read 8 tweets
Apr 22, 2020
Just co-chaired the first #ZFish20 concurrent session at #TAGC20 @GeneticsGSA.

Short thread after the fact:

1) WE CAN DO THIS!

1/7
2) Great technical support with setting up, etc. from the assigned technicians.

No need to sweat, and it was great to see enthusiastic smiles and humor in the 10min before the session start!

2/7
3) Session chairs:
use a timer app and also coordinate through the panelist chat with your co-chairs and speakers.

It *MIGHT* happen that you forget to set your timer occasionally, so having backup is great!

3/7
Read 7 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(